Within the APH research institute there are multiple Special Interest Groups (SIG) on different research program overarching topics. A SIG within APH is an informal, flexible, and usually temporary network of researchers and/or other stakeholders who focus on a specific research theme. SIGs arise bottom-up from a shared need or interest and are not tied to a single research program or department. They are intended as breeding grounds to stimulate knowledge exchange, collaboration, and the pooling of expertise, both within and outside APH. SIGs transcend research programs and are open to participation from different disciplines and external partners. An overview of APH SIG’s can be found on this page.

Innovation and impact in personalized medicine

Research program: Personalized Medicine

Contact persons: Tessel Rigter en Marieke Bak

Aims: To achieve true impact with innovations in Personalized Medicine, timely research is needed to ensure their effectiveness and acceptability. This includes valorization of prediction models and other tools for precision medicine, the study of ethical values, legal frameworks and analyzing the potential consequences for existing paradigms in (public health) care.

Within the Personalized Medicine research program we stimulate the interdisciplinary study of the impact of new technologies and other developments, including ethical, legal and social issues, in order to set the right frameworks for responsible innovation and to ultimately optimize impact.

Patient centered care

Research program: Personalized Medicine

Contact persons: Agnies van Eeghen en Baudewijntje Kreukels

Aims: From the patient's perspective we aim to connect researchers who are concerned with the development and implementation of measures, care models and research methodologies tailored towards the individual patient (patient reported outcomes, shared decision making).

  • To tailor care to the individual patient
  • Rare diseases
  • Intellectual disabilities
  • N=1 designs
  • Combination of research and care in the individual patient
  • Evidence based medicine on the patient level
  • Personalized outcome measures
  • Patient participation
  • Health care professional tailoring its care to the individual patient
  • Close system surrounding the patient
  • ICF model per patient (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health)

Systems thinking and public health

Research program: Health Behaviors & Chronic Diseases

Contact persons: Loes Crielaard, Gaby Lunansky, Wilma Waterlander en Mary Nicolaou via aph.systems@amsterdamumc.nl

Aims: This special interest group (founded in 2018) aims to further build
expertise on systems science in public health, by creating a platform for
researchers applying systems science across diverse public health topics. Over
the years, the group has grown beyond Health Behaviors & Chronic Diseases
of Amsterdam Public Health, now bringing together more than 100 researchers
spread across various universities and organisations in the Netherlands, such
as the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) and
local public health services. We meet online approximately 5 times per year to
present projects and share best practices. Since 2024, we also host an annual
in-person symposium. All HB&CD researchers who have an interest in systems
science are welcome to participate.

Participatory research & Co-creation

Research program: Health Behaviors & Chronic Diseases

Contact persons: Teatske Altenburg, Nessa Millet, Laura Belmon, Annemarie Reilingh and Francesca Minardi, via aph.participatory@amsterdamumc.nl

Aims: This SIG is a multidisciplinary community of researchers conducting co-creation and participatory research with varying levels of experience. We aim to facilitate co-learning through sessions which focus on sharing practical examples of conducting Participatory (Action) Research alongside experiences of navigating and sitting with the tensions, successes, and ethical considerations of co-creation with citizens. We typically have 4 sessions per year (2 x in person and 2 x online) which are an opportune moment to share unfinished and unpolished work as means to gain feedback and promote discussion. Do you have a project that you would like to share at one of the SIG sessions? Then feel free to reach out to us!

Medical Education Scientists Amsterdam (MESA)

Research program: Quality of Care

Contact person: Sofiya Abedali

Aims: To create a vivid learning community in which researchers come together to exchange knowledge and experience in workshops and expert meetings. The planned SIG meetings provide a platform for all medical education (ME) researchers and those who are interested of Amsterdam UMC or Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and adherent institutes to inspire and meet each other, collaborate and build a network within APH. Visibility will be created through an open access website. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of healthcare through education and research in the field of ME and to train the researchers and health professionals of the future.

PROM implementation research network

Research programs: Quality of Care and Personalized Medicine

Contact person: Maud van Muilekom via PROMexpertisepunt@amsterdamumc.nl

Aims: To advance the field of patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) implementation in clinical practice, by bringing together researchers and clinicians with experience or interest in this specific field. We aim to organize multiple meetings to build a knowledgebase on PROM implementation and share updates in the field. This research network will be part of the PROM Expertise Point within Amsterdam UMC and is in collaboration with the APH research programs Quality of Care and Personalized Medicine.

Ambulatory Assessment Amsterdam

Research program: Mental health

Contact person: George Aalbers

Aim: This special interest group (SIG) aims to build a community where researchers exchange knowledge and expertise in ambulatory assessment, a powerful approach for capturing real-world data on mental health. The SIG meetings provide a platform for researchers and those interested in the field to connect, inspire each other, and build a network within the Amsterdam Public Health (APH) research community. Working with our external partner, The Hyve, we aim to develop practical guidance and to strengthen the research infrastructure for ambulatory assessment research in Amsterdam.

SIG Inclusive & Diverse Health Research

Research program: Personalized Medicine & Quality of Care

Contact person: Inge van Strien, Karuna van der Meij and Bryn Hummel, via APH-SIGinclusiveresearch@amsterdamumc.nl

Aim: The SIG Inclusive & Diverse Health Research aims to connect researchers working on inclusive research and to share knowledge and experience on inclusivity, diversity and vulnerable populations in research. We aim to raise awareness within the APH community about the diversity among patients and research participants, and increase the knowledge and skills to involve vulnerable populations and shape inclusive research. We will do so by organizing meetings and inspiring and supporting researchers. The SIG explicitly collaborates across programs and with other initiatives, such as the ‘DEI committee’, the ‘Inclusive lunch meetings’ and the ‘Patient in Research (PIR) Network’.